Warner Brothers Purchases Batman: Arkham Asylum Developer

After an undisclosed amount of money changed hands, Warner Brothers became the proud owner of the majority stake in Rocksteady Studios. Martin Tremblay, President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, had this to say about the deal.

“With the successful release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, a franchise that is a key focus for Warner Bros., Rocksteady has proven that they have the expertise to create hit games with mass appeal. We are currently working with Rocksteady on the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum and look forward to bringing the continuation of the franchise to fans worldwide.”

Warner Brothers has been on quite a buying spree. They acquired Midway and its back catalog of intellectual property including Mortal Kombat last year. Two years prior to the Midway purchase (i.e. 2007) , Warner Brothers bought Traveller’s Tales the makers of Lego [Insert popular franchise here] and Sonic 3D.

Eidos, now a subsidiary of Square Enix, published Batman: Arkham Asylum in all regions. It’s unclear if or how this acquisition will affect Square Enix’s involvement with the series.

Interesting development. I hope it doesn’t affect the quality of future games.

thebanditking

Spencer, S-E’s involvement with the series is quite simple. They no longer have any. Eidos said a while back they they have no involvement with the Arkham Asylum sequel or the Batman licence anymore, Warner is publishing Batman AA2 on their own. I am sure this is something S-E is none to pleased about as Batman lined S-E’s pockets quite well during its last financial statement. I wonder, Warner use to own Tomb Raider and Lara Croft but is that still the case? S-E and Warner could co-publish the next Tomb Raider, but I was wondering if maybe S-E traded its ties to RockSteady in exchange for the Tomb Raider licence.

Hraesvelgr

The next Arkham Asylum will now be about Christian Bale Batman.

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